March 11, 2007

Daylight Savings Times -Emerson Research Smartset Alarm Clocks, Not So Smart

Most of us here in the United States "sprung" forward a lot earlier than we have in the past 20 years. That's because our Government decided to enact a bill to "give us more daylight hours," and to "help us conserve energy." One thing our wonderful lawmakers forget to take into account is how this will affect technology. Although not quite as bad as Y2k, there's still annoyances that surround us and have to be dealt with.

Take for example those "SmartSet" alarm clocks. These are clocks made by Emerson Research, that when you plug them into the wall, they automatically set the time and date. Now when you buy an alarm clock, how many of you read and save the directions? Well, today's a day you might be wishing you did, if you have a "smart set" type clock that doesn't use the atomic type timing to set itself.

First let me point out - the Emerson Research website is useless. Truly a total piece of useless marketing material that couldn't help you no matter how many times you scrolled through their totally flash created site that isn't search engine friendly. I searched through all of that website for directions about manually resetting the DST (Daylight Savings Time) start and end dates to no avail.

Thankfully - I remembered I had an extra clock (when I bought these things I was working at my former employer - they came in packs of two - hey it was a good deal!), and popped opened the box and pulled out the trusty directions. Since no one has them printed anywhere online for helping customers who've purchased these types of clocks, I figured I'd do the internet a service and post the directions in "searchable text."

Directions for Resetting the Daylight Savings Time (DST) Start & End Dates on the Emerson Research Smartset Dual Alarm Clock Radio (cks5055s):

This should work for all Smartsets, but I cannot make the guarantee (and no, I don't have any other directions, sorry)!

Adjusting the DST Start Date on an Emerson Research Smartset:

Depress & hold the MONTH/DATE and the ALARM1 buttons (at the same time). After 3 seconds the display will show the DST 'start' month, week, and date. It should be alternately showing "4 F" (April and first week week) and "4. 1".

While still holding the MONT/DATE and the ALARM1 buttons, press the DOWN (or "-") button 3 times, until the display is showing "3" (March) and the week as "F2". It should alternately flash "3 F2" and "3. 11".

After this is set, the clock should "automatically" reset itself

Adjusting the DST End Date on an Emerson Research Smartset:

Depress & hold the MONTH/DATE and the ALARM2 buttons (at the
same time). After 3 seconds the display will show the DST 'end'
month, week, and date. It should be alternately showing "10 L" (October
and last week week) and "10. 28".

While still holding the MONT/DATE and the ALARM1 buttons, press the
UP (or "+") button 1 time, until the display is showing "11" (November)
and the week as "F". It should alternately flash "11 F" and "11. 4".

After this is set, the clock should "automatically" reset itself

One thing to note, if you ever have to change the lithium backup battery for the Smartset clocks, it will revert back to it's factory defaults and you'll have to go through his all over again.

And this conclude's Search Marketing Guru's public service announcement. :) We'll be back with relevant online marketing posts with our next posting!

Thank you so much for posting this information! When I bought my Emerson Research Smartset Alarm Clock a couple of years ago, the only one they had left was the display model, so I never had the instructions to begin with. This has been very helpful - you guys are the best!

I usually look for the marketing info, but I have one of these clocks and just thought I would have to wait three weeks for the old time change. Thanks for your "public service announcement." My clock and I are on speaking terms again.

You have a newer model of clock than I do... I tried your instructions and they didn't work on mine... but now emerson's contact us page has a link to this to figure out how to reset your smartset clock.

Could not figure out how to change the date in March, so I switched from Eastern time zone (2) to Atlantic time zone (1) and got the right time. 4/1 it sprung ahead without me. Thanks for the info. I had the same experience on the Emerson website

I gave this clock as a xmas present in '05. In March of 06 the upper right leg of the first number went blank and now, early May of 06, the upper right leg of the second number is only faintly visible. The low quality degraded the gift.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! You are a life-saver! Today, I was an hour late to work because I'd never found out how to fix it when it happened in the spring and eventually just forgot about it. Of course, my lateness had partly to do with the fact that my clock randomly decided it was a day later, but oh well. Anyways, THANK YOU again, I GREATLY appreciate it!!

A probable permanent solution for early Emerson SmartSet Clocks, like the CKS1862: This page is a great resource and service for the SmartSet DST problem. However, for those of us with SmartSet Clocks that fall into Group One (models manufactured before January 2006, which have serial numbers with the first three numbers of 512 (Dec 05) or lower, as described at http://www.fox-international.com/emerson/ (Thx to Mickey Fisher above)), Emerson's fix is to reset the time zones four times a year (http://www.fox-international.com/emerson/groupone.asp). Good grief! Better yet, just remove the automatic DST feature and change it into an otherwise good, manually set clock: Neither Arizona nor Hawaii observe DST (confirm at http://www.gohawaii.com/about_hawaii/learn/faq). Time zones programmed into the clock include Hawaiian Time - Zone 7 (http://www.fox-international.com/emerson/TimeZoneSettings.pdf). By setting the Time Zone to Zone 7 and adjusting the time to your time, you should never be surprised by an inappropriate time change. The downside is the requirement to set it yourself twice a year, just like most of your other clocks. (Let's hope that Emerson Research knew that Hawaii wasn't subject to DST. If not, I guess the folks there have been complaining about these clocks for years.)

Thank you for doing this fix it. Hey tech guys I am just a regular carpenter and build fancy houses for rich tech people. so the next time your carpenter/tradesman makes a mistake take it easy on the guy/gal we are only human. You to have made mistakes right?

Thank you so much. My husband and I woke up Sunday thinking that we were an hour late for church. I apologized to a church adminstrator for missing a commitment and got a confused look. Good grief! Thanks for these instructions. However, I'm ready to pitch this clock. I love that it sets itself, but manual changes should not be this complex.

Does anyone know how to set the time change on the first emerson research clock. Its the one with no am/fm radio and has LED's at bottom to tell time of week. Model AC100.. The new instruction with the am/fm doesn't work on this model.

Thank you to Mickey Fisher with the link for other models. I also have an older model. I think I will be getting myself a newer model. Has anyone heard anything about possible refunds or discounts for those of us with older models. Although it is older it is only 2 1/2 yrs. old. Yet it now needs to be changed 4 times a year instead of 2 times if I didn't have smartset.

i have the emerson smartset model number cks3029 and THE INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN HERE NOT WORKING i have pushed month /date and alm1 also month/date alm2 numberous times and the display does not change any one help??

Thank you so much. When I bought my smartset clock we did not observe DST (which now that we do I HATE it), so I was not worried about how to change the DST. Now that we do I did remember that it would be wrong so I made sure I had a different alarm clock set correctly so I would not be late to work.
Thank you I followed your directions and it worked perfectly, so now I should not have to worry about it anymore.

My Smart Clock by Emerson Research reset itself a day early; that is, a day before the original change from DST to EST overnight (between October 26 and 27, Friday to Saturday!! This made me late for a Saturday morning class I was steaching as I didn't notice the time difference until I glanced at my clock in my car when leaving. The change normally would have originally taken place on Saturday night between the 27th and 28th , but, of course, it was moved back a week by the government.

LI EVANS YOU ARE THE BOMB. I GOT THIS RESEARCH SELF YATTA YATTA YATTA DUAL ALARM CLOCK AS A X-MAS GIFT WHEN WORKING FOR PARAMOUNT PICTURES 10 YEARS AGO. LIKE YOU I DID NOT SAVE THE INSTRUCTIONS AND IF I DID THEY HAVE DISAPEARED ALONG WITH THAT $100 BILL I PUT IN MY SOCK DRAW.
JUST WANT TO SAY THANKS FOR THIS INFO. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU....I AM OFF TO PALM SPRINGS NOW AND I WILL TRY TO FIX MY CLOCK WHEN I GET BACK.
DENNIS G

Don't know why mine won't change....I follwed your instructions and I never got the 4F or any of that stuff when I pressed down the the month/date and alarm 1 at the same time...I know I held it longer then 3seconds....I went looking and found my insturction book that came with the radio and it said nothing about how to change it....only that it would change in April and then again in October. HELP!

I'm really angry. I have the CKS3029 model and the instructions don't work. I shouldn't have to change time zones on the clock to get the correct time in CA. Although it's not Emerson's fault that our wonderful Gov't changed the start and end date for DST. Emerson should AT LEAST send customers with an older model a coupon with at least $10-$15 off to purchase a newer model. THIS CLOCK IS USELESS TO ME NOW!!!

Emerson must have fixed their site, I DL'd my owners manual last year for my model 2237, Went there today and there is ALL Kinds of DST Info. It depends on when your clock was made if you can reset the start and stop date. (Mine is way too old) there are 3 groups...clocks like mine that have to be set to a different time zone, Clocks you can adjust to the new dates, and like my new one, clocks that are all set to go. They have Owners manuals in PDF for EVERYTHING, including the adjustment to the new dates if needed

My Emerson Smartset CKS2288 is not very smart and unfortunately the company said because it was manufactured in 05 it will not ever be right and you would have to set manually or buy a new one!!
Nice!!!

I was one of those who never thought of keeping instructions for a clock since I could only imagine how savvy I could be using one for the last 20 years but this really helps. I've gone through an entire year setting my Emerson clock back and forth, that's 4 times a year! All of 2007, I was wishing I had owned a regular clock where I would only have to set it twice a year instead! Many thanks to this author!

Thanks so much, I have been looking for this info for a year, and now can use my alarm clock without having to adjust the time zone all the time (the only fix you do for this clock). I too looked at Emerson about a year ago and could find no info whatsoever about tthis otherwise great alarm clock, only how great an All-American company Emerson is. I am much happier now with my clock, thanks so much!

Thanks for info re adjusting old Emerson alarms to new DST rules. Doesn"t work on my model perhaps as it is older. CKS2237. Do you have a tel # I could use to cantact MFG> Maybe they can help. Thanks.
JTL

I have 3 of the older models that were all manufactured before 2005 and fall under the "Group One" category that the DST fix doesn't work with. I even called Emerson Research after pouring through the manual (which I kept in my nightstand drawer all these years) and was told there was no way to shut off the auto DST feature nor was there a fix for my SmartSet models......basically buy new clocks.

Unfortunately the manual doesn't disclose which (if any) time zones don't observe DST, so THANK YOU Kristin for digging deeper and sharing your discovery that time Zone 7 is the solution our DST nightmares! Too bad Emerson wasn't bright enough to provide that info when I called.

I have two of these "wonderful" radio/alarm clocks and lost an hours sleep this morning April 6, 2008. Thanks for all this information about resetting DST but my problem is Arizona does not have DST. Now what? But a new clock I guess. I'm just happy knowing I'm not the only one in this nations fighting with a clock! If anyone has the answer I would appreciate it before I have a burial of two clocks in the desert:) Plus, since I moved to AZ I don't even know what zone I am in for this radio/clock!!! Thanks

Just wanted to say that I needed to know about the time zone codes. Saw this link, went straight to the emerson site...looked up products, clicked on the 3029 model, clicked on the owner's manual and got my answer. I was even able to see what the alarm modes were because I had forgotten. Thanks for the link, I found it helpful with no problems of making my correction.

Apparently Emerson's research dept forgot that Hawaii doesn't observe DST... I just tried setting our clock to Time Zone 7 and set the time to 1:59 am Apr 6/08 -- I still saw it change to 3 am instead of 2 am. Darn... We're going to have to put a sticker on it to remind us which weekends we have to change time zones back and forth.

I just wanted to say thanks for the info.
Because I did not have the manual to reset my DST, I got up an hour earlier (4am). Then when I was done gettting ready for work, I turned on the TV to get my morning news with my coffee, Hey what happened to my news channel? I then looked at the clock and figured it out. Oh yea, the dog does not like getting up that early either. I wandered why I had to push her out the door. She must of thought I was crazy.

Enjoyed info and commentary; I inherited a clock with bad battery and set to wrong time zone. Now, I'll have to wait 'til Fall to see if my clock knows Hawaii has no DST. Technical curiosity, though: do these clocks rely on data from the power company?

OK, so I just decided to dump my old, non-reprogrammable, adjust 4x/yr Emerson clocks and bought two brand new ones, and I have another "gee, i wonder how to..." question:

When I plugged the two clocks in, I was a little surprised to find that the times were off by almost 5 minutes. OK, not that big a deal 'cause you can adjust the time. Done. BUT, since they're right near eachother (one on each side of the bed), it's really really annoying that it doesn't seem to reset the seconds when you set the time... so they're roughly half a minute apart when they change. Yeah, yeah, big deal... but I just find it annoying when they're right in the same room and read different times.. even if only briefly (I'm just like that!).

I have had my clock for 9 years and enjoyed it very much. Every year twice a year I have had to change the clock because I live in Saskatchewan where we don't change the time! Some change mongers want us to, but I sure don't.

Anyway, my question, the power has been out a few times lately and the clock is not going to the right time. Do I just need a new battery?

For the CKS2237 model I pressed:
1. The MONTH/DATE and ALARM1 at the same time for several seconds and the clock did not show the display setting you mentioned.
THEN
2. I pressed the MONTH/DATE, TIME and ALARM1 at the same time for several seconds and still did not get the display setting you mentioned.

When I let go of the buttons I noticed that my clock was displaying the correct time. I'm not sure if method 1 or 2 above corrected the time but one of these methods worked for my model.

God bless you for posting this information. It took me a while to find you, but maybe now I won't have to throw away,3 of these crazy clocks. They were suppose to make our lives easier, but have given me much aggravation.

This information did not help me because both of my smartset clocks are the earlier editions. One of the 2 doesn't have the buttons you mentioned, the other does but nothing happens. I have the manual for my CKD8300 but it does not address DST changes. Both reset April 1st causing me to get up an hour early. The Emerson website is of no assistance but I do have a phone # I will try tomorrow. 1-800-898-9020 M-F until 4:30PM Central time.

My Oct 27, 2007, comment about setting the time zone to Zone 7, Hawaii, which doesn't have Daylight Savings Time, doesn't fix the problem. Emerson programmed the clock to change to and from DST (on the wrong dates) anyway. So we've still got to set the clock 4 times a year and still subject ourselves to surprise mornings. The nice, big, blue numbers are what keeps this clock in operation.

ok so I know this is a couple of years later but i have been "just dealing with the problem" today my husband ended up at work an hour early, he was not happy. so here i am anf i just wanted to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!! you are a good person for posting this on the web...!!!!

thanks at least someone tried to assist us just wanted to say it does not work for the CKS1850 model. I appreciate the insructions and they're correct I pulled up emersons website and when I tried to contact it jus says for canadian residence only.

With all due respect, you got what you paid for. You purchased a cheap Emerson clock and that is exactly what you got! Had you purchased the Brookstone version of the Smartset alarm clock, called the Time Set, you would not have any of the aforementioned problems. I have had my Brookstone Time Smart alarm clock for many years and have not one single complaint! Sure, it costs alot more than the crappy Emerson clock, but again, I got what I paid for.

Technology is always like this. There's the completely manual method. Then comes first draft automation that works for the exact circumstances under which it was designed, and probably requires tech savvy to operate. (Remember setting the time on the old VCRs? They forgot it every time the power went out, and most people never used timer recording anyway, so they put up with flashing 12:00. Before the Internet became ubiquitous (and before clock batteries), the clocks on old PCs had to be set each time they booted; most people didn't care.) Second and third drafts usually provide useful tech without unneeded complications.

As I see it, Emerson's SmartSet technology is useful for people whose houses or offices are opaque to the WWVB "atomic clock" radio signal, so battery backup is needed to recover from power outages.

I purchased an Emerson SmartSet clock/radio a few years ago (S/N: 610...->mfd in 2006 Oct?). It has a manual switch for DST on/off. Less automatic? Sure. Easier than manual set? Definitely. Susceptible to non-tech (DST rules) changes or anomalies (no DST)? Nope. Accurate? Sufficiently so. Would it work in a cave (or shielded room)? Surely it keeps more accurate time than a radio-set clock without radio. I forgot it had a time zone setting, but that merely modifies the displayed time, avoiding changing the time +-60*n minutes at first setup. (Same observation applies to DST switch.)

I expect the time to drift, since it's not tied to a standard time source (radio or network). But it's been great so far, with less than one minute error since setup. (It was maybe five minutes off when I first installed it, but that's a one-time adjustment.)

As I recall, the clock was rather inexpensive (~US$20). If it becomes a hassle, I can buy another. Caveat emptor. You get what you pay for. (If not, there are PR and legal remedies.)

I hope someone can help me. I have a Smartset clock and no instructions. I have it set, but the date and the day of the week are off, so the alarm goes off on the wrong day of the week. Do you know how I can fix it? Thanks.

I bought the old model Emerson: Smart Set Alarm Clock Radio -model# CKS1862 recently from a liquidation store. Does anyone know about the DTS setting processs, or better yet have an original owners manual that you can post - even at a $2 or $4 charge. I bought the last one and it came with no owners manual. I thought, "How difficult can it be to figure out the features, how to use them, and how to trouble shoot/and or replace a battery"? Well here I am, in need of a free or inexpensive manual which Emerson will not furnish. BTW - I'v also tried all those other on-line "We Have Your Manual" web sites, to no avail. Can anyone out there help...Pllllease.

Thank you so much. The boss isn't buying my story about 'my smart alarm clocks aren't keeping up with dumb Congress' line next year (e.g. a third time), and I cannot keep flipping back and forth between time zones 4 times a year just to keep the correct time. Smart should mean just that.

According to the DST notice, I should depress CALENDAR and ALARM1 at the same time in order to change the DST date. However, I could not get it to work. So, the manual list might not be the end solution for everyone.